What a sweet picture! And you had a pet raccoon!

Lars, you have been good looking at very age, despite the knobby knees! What fun to have a pet raccoon. Want to see a picture of me as a child? Here I am in my cowgirl outfit at age three, I think.

That's a beautiful picture, Pam, but if you had been in Texas, you would have been wearing cowgirl boots! I had some sandals just like the ones you have on. The bucking broncos on your pockets were a very popular theme in Texas when I was a child. I had an Indian outfit instead of a cowboy, however, and Mike was the cowboy. In Texas, women would wear cowboy/girl boots as often as the men, but I prefered sandals, such as you have on.

Lars

I'm sure I would have loved to have cowboy boots, but at that age I had no say in the matter! I was a Pennsylvania cowgirl. I don't think we have cowboys in PA, although there is a place called Cowtown not far away in NJ. They have rodeo sorts of things and a big flea market. I am not sure if it is still even there. Cowboys/girls were very popular in the 1950's. I do remember dressing as an Indian princess for Halloween one year. We were all blissfully un-PC back then. I watch old reruns of The Lone Ranger once in awhile and just cringe at the way Tonto speaks.

Anyway, we were cuties, weren't we? I wish I had had a raccoon but we had dogs and fish tanks. I wanted a horse but never had one.

Another Pennsylvania cowgirl. I loved my Hopalong Cassidy outfit.

Cute pictures ladies and Lars. Love!!! the pet raccoon.

Uh, sand spurs, the State Flower of Florida. They tormented me we rarely wore shoes.

I remember my cowgirl gun set to this day with disappointment. My BFF's set was girly white and mine was brown.

Christine, you look like Annie Oakley with the gun!

I remember watching The Lone Ranger as a child with my sister, and it was one of our favorite shows. I got to meet Roy Rogers at a rodeo in Waco in 1958-9, or at least shook his hand. My grandfather had a ranch in West Texas, and he had lots of horses that we would ride when we visited him. At the farm, we only had a pony, but DF bought horses later when he switched from farming to raising cattle, as the horses were helpful in herding the cattle. I was never a cowboy at heart and always sympathized more with the native tribes, even though the Comanches in Texas were somewhat violent - or least prone to kidnapping white settlers for random. The Spanish used to pay the ransoms and got their victims back relatively unharmed, but the American settlers who came to Texas later would shoot the Comanches, putting the kidnap victims in greater jeopardy. I did not play with toy guns as a child, but I did have a bow and rubber-tipped arrows, for my Native American outfit. I also had moccasins, which I really liked.

Evidently, I was frequently barefoot as a small child because there are a lot of pictures of me outside with no shoes, even in December on warm days. By the time I was eight, I would normally wear at least sandals, however. The stickers were everywhere, but I didn't know what they were called or that they could possibly be a state flower!

Lars

Actually Lars, the official state flower of Florida is the orange blossom. It just seemed like there were sand spurs/stickers everywhere competing for state flower status.

CC, we were twins! Thanks so much for posting that. My brother was the one with the holster and guns. I still have the holster in my basement. We have hilarious family movies with him doing tricks with his guns, "fast draws" and such. I would never buy a toy gun for a child today but those were simpler times.

Lars, my experience with American Indians was limited to "Chief Halftown". Oh, and Princess SummerFall WinterSpring and Chief Thunderthud.

Here's another picture of the same yard taken in May 1958, and so the previous picture must have been 1957. Anway, this picture was for my brother Mike's third birthday, and there is an accompanying video that I really like. Here you can see me in my Easter outfit, which included a pink silk parasol, which I used to protect me from the relentless Texas sun. My sister left hers upside down in the grass, and she needed it more than I did, but seemed unconcerned that she got covered with freckles. This was the last year that I was allowed to carry parasols - after this I was told that I was too old, which of course made no sense to me since I saw plenty of grown women carrying them in downtown Temple. They should have had sunscreen back then, but I don't remember it, and so I just stayed inside more.

Lars

Lars, weren't you smart to use a parasol back then. I'm sure boys carrying parasols were not a common sight in Texas or anywhere else in 1958. I was one of those kids who spent endless unprotected hours in the sun, and I have fair skin.

You looked quite handsome. Your haircut reminds me so much of my brother at that age. He used one of those wax sticks to make the front stand up. I think it was called butch wax. You and he are almost exactly the age, I think.

What are you and your brother and sister doing? It looks like your brother is pouring something and I see a doll on the table. Sweet picture.

Pam, our parents used to take us to San Antonio on vacations, and we would visit the zoo and the Japanese Sunken Tea Gardens (temporarily called "Chinese" during and right after WWII) in Breckenridge Park. At the entrance to the gardens, they sold Chinese paper parasols, and my mother always bought them for us so that we would not get sunburned. I remember visiting there when I was four and thought it was very beautiful. Plus I collected the paper parasols that I would get there. And yes, I was very smart to protect myself from the sun, as today I have very little sun damage on my skin, unlike my sister. I used to have butch wax also, but that was for flat tops, which I hated. I always wanted my hair longer, more like in the picture with the raccoon.

I think my sister and I are waiting for birthday cake in the picture, but I do not see any plates. The naked baby doll was what Mike had been chewing on earlier - he may have still been teething, and he would try to put the doll's head in his mouth. There is also a toy tractor on the table. I really can't tell what Mike is holding, but Karen is trying to help him with it. I think it was one of his new toys.

My sister was born in 1948, and I was born in 1950, if that makes me close to your brother's age. I was blond at the time of the picture, but the Brylcreem in my hair made it look darker. I did not like that, but it made my hair stay in place.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful:

OK, Photobucket has changed AGAIN, we'll see if this works.

You know I've spoken of my Aunt Amy, from Japan. She made me this kimono when I was 3, and made one for her daughter Sylvia too. I wasn't happy.....

Annie

I'm loving all these pictures!

Di

Me, too. Just loving these pictures. Annie, my gosh you were cute. A little blonde curly-haired Japanese girl. You should have borrowed Lars' parasol to complete your outfit.

That picture is soooo Annie!!

Lars, where is Kevin?

Sooo cute! Let me guess, Kevin wasn't born yet?

The cowgirl outfits are a hoot. I don't think I had one of those. I know my brothers did. I'll have to scan me in a traditional Korean dress, if I can find the pic in my messy house right now.

Annie you look like, "get me out of this straightjacket, can't breathe, kimono-shminono!"

Gina is right - Kevin wasn't born yet!! He was born seven years later.

Annie, I love the photo with the kimono, but you do not look comfortable or happy at all! My parasol was being used at the time, but you could have borrowed my sister's parasol to complete the outfit, except that our parasols were Chinese instead of Japanese, although that may have worked for a child's outfit. Anyway, it is a very adorable photo.

My mother used to dress me in cowboy outfits when I was one and two years old, but by the time I was three, I refused to wear them. Fortunately, she let me choose my own clothes by the time I was four, and I had very specific taste. I had a lot of shirts when I was four and five that had outer space or space travel themes in the fabric designs as well as 1950s boomerangs. Some of them had starbursts on them that looked like Sputniks. To me at that time, cowboys were coarse and unrefined, and I prefered to dress more formally. I wore slacks to school instead of blue jeans when I was in elementary. I don't remember wearing blue jeans at all until I was at university.

Lars

Lars, we were certainly not allowed to wear jeans to school when we were kids, even the boys. Girls wore dresses and boys wore slacks. This was public school. I also was in college before i wore jeans to class.

Gina, I'd love to see a picture of you in your Korean clothes.

I want to see Gina in her outfit also - I'm sure it would be too cute - and I hope it is in color, unlike the 1950s photos.

Pam, I went to a rural school in elementary, and farm boys were allowed to wear blue jeans to school, but girls had to wear dresses, of course. Teen-age girls at that time liked to wear jeans rolled up to mid-calf, but of course that was not allowed in school and was considered vulgar! Capri pants and sundresses with spaghetti straps were also forbidden.

In college (at Rice) I had to wear a tie to dinner every evening, and on Sundays, we had to wear a coat and tie for noon dinner. Freshmen were required to wear starched white jackets and serve food to the tables. There were enough freshmen that we alternated weeks of serving tables. I moved off-campus my Junior year.

Lars

Here's two-year-old me (why is my head so big?!):

You look older than two Gina, but perhaps you were an early bloomer. But if you are two, that explains why your head would look large. The outfit makes you look more mature, as well as the gracefulness of your pose.

The dress looks like it is cotton - is that what they use for children's clothes? Also, I'm impressed with how spotless you kept it - white is not very forgiving.

It looks like you are standing in front of some ancient ruin - quite a different backdrop from the other photos here! I like the aged, weathered look of the stairs.

Lars

I had one of those cowgirl outfits, but I'm not sure I have any pictures of me in it. I have one of my brother in a cowboy hat, though, he was 6 or 7, I think.

Gina, I like the picture, why, we could be twins, LOL. Mother says that I was very unhappy when made to wear the kimono but because Aunt Yoshiko (Amy) made it, I wore it. It was in the fall and it doubled as a Halloween costume for me that year, I won a set of watercolor paints, which I remember distinctly, it wasn't one of those chintzy sets with 8 colors, it had something like 40 colors, I was ever so impressed, LOL.

Gina, we could be twins! (grin)

Annie

Lars, it isn't children's clothes. It's kind of a costume. People only wear traditional dress for holidays and ceremonies - a couple of times a year. It must have been a holiday so I am wearing the dress specifically for a photo. I have no memory of this at all. According to the date on the back of the photo, I was a month shy of three. And I am very tanned - I liked to play outside all day long. This was long before the internet of course :-)

I'll have to ask my mom where this was taken. Maybe at a Buddhist temple.

These traditional dresses are usually satin but children's versions are probably polyester.

Hey Twinnie! I haven't seen you for awhile!

What a beautiful little face and the kimomo is adorable.

I too am curious where the photo was taken.

Lovely Pictures!
Gina, what a lovely picture. Kimono is so lovely!

I love these! This the first time I've looked at this thread. Here is one of me at age 18 months in a grass skirt and lei sent to me from my mother who was living in St. Louis. I was with my grandparents in Mexico. This was probably a house in a very rural town close to a mine where my grandfather was working. It may even have had dirt floors.

This is toward the end of my grandmother's photo session and I am obviously tired of the get-up and posing. There is a happier one but I guess I don't have it on my drive.

Eileen

Eileen, that's adorable! Despite the "when will this be over" look!
The cowgirl photo of me is one of very few normal-looking fun pictures, because my uncle was a prize-winning amateur photographer. He visited once a year for a day-long session of stiff, posed photos. His landscapes are impressive, but people were not his talent.

I don't recall any cowgirl costumes. Darn, now I want one! And a tiny little kimono, too.

We were not allowed to wear jeans in public school until I was in high school except for Rodeo Week in February. Then we could wear jeans and cowboy shirts and bolo ties and boots to school.

CC, people don't behave as well as landscapes do. :)

Eileen

Here is a link that might be useful: Rodeo Week

Oh, weren;t you the cutest little hula dancer. Adorable, and cooperative, too.

Gina, you are a little Korean (right?) doll. My gosh we were a bunch of cute kids.

"My gosh we were a bunch of cute kids."

You can say that again!

When I was is school boys didn't wear long pants until first grade. We felt quite grown up in our long pants. I don't know if I can find pictures.

Jim

This post was edited by jimster on Fri, Feb 1, 13 at 20:59

Eileen, a hula girl in Mexico, LOL. I love the curls!

Annie

Eileen, a hula girl in Mexico, LOL. I love the curls!

Annie